


Secret Souls

by rae_marie



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Original Nonbinary Character - Freeform, although this is a happy story, i guess even happy fallen london stories have horror in them, tw for horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 23:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18508987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: There was the slightest of splashes as Jenra broke the surface. They could hear the two scoundrels talking quietly in the distance, and they hoped the voices would stay in the distance....





	Secret Souls

There was the slightest of splashes as Jenra broke the surface. They could hear the two scoundrels talking quietly in the distance, and they hoped the voices would  _ stay _ in the distance. 

Silently, they drew their knife and sawed at the ropes holding the small crate down to the boat. They hadn’t been at it long, when they heard the sound of footsteps. The rope was almost gone, anyhow; they tugged at the crate, and the rope  _ snapped  _  and fell backwards with them into the water. 

They could hear the angry muffled shouts above, but they kicked away under the water, and nobody pursued. 

When Jenra finally reemerged some distance away, on the beaches near Ladybones Road, they collapsed onto the shore, nearly dropping the crate back into the water. They lay there for a while, catching their breath, then slowly stood up and found their belongings where they’d left them. They put the boots back on their feet and picked up their swordcane just as Hamlet reemerged from the bushes. 

‘Was it really worth all that fuss?’ he asked. Jenra nodded. 

‘Yes; it was.’ They gave him a  _ look _ . ‘And you better not try selling them to the Bazaar, Hamlet. Don’t you dare.’ 

The rat shrugged, and helped Jenra lift the crate. Then, silently, they made their way back to the bookshop. 

*****

Safely at home upstairs, Jenra carried the crate into the closet with the hidden panel. They slid it open, and walked into the secret room (they wondered yet again why a bookseller had needed a secret room), and gently set the crate down. 

‘There you go,’ they said. 

They picked up the tools Hamlet had let them borrow, and set in on prying the top off the crate. Soon enough, the lid came off with a pop, and twenty-four blue bottles were staring up at them. 

They hadn’t realised bottles could stare until now, but stare they certainly did. 

‘Hello,’ Jenra whispered. ‘You’re safe, now.’

They stood up and carefully started moving the souls to the waiting shelves.

*****

There they all sat, all twenty-four souls in rows, staring down at them. It was more unsettling than they had thought it would be, but it had certainly been worth it. Jenra would keep an eye out for the next time the Spirifer’s boat passed by; they had no clue what happened to the souls once they left, but they were sure it wasn’t pleasant, and although they could only sneak away one crate at a time, at least it was  _ something _ . 

Every other night, Jenra snuck into the secret room with a book and read to the bottles on the shelf. Eventually, the stares seemed to turn from scared and angry to perhaps just a little bit happy, and hopeful, too. 

Jenra was hopeful as well; maybe, one day, they could return the bottled contents to their rightful owners. 

**Author's Note:**

> This little short came from a strange place; there's an opportunity card in the game where you can steal from a Spirifer's boat, and I started wondering what Jenra would do if they ever stole a crate, since they're hardly a malevolent character. This was the answer I came up with. 
> 
> *****
> 
> _(Fallen London is © 2019 and ™ Failbetter Games Limited. This is an unofficial fan work.)_


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